Character Counts

I got to attend the Character Counts award assembly on Friday. This month's theme was 'fairness' and one of my boys was recognized for being fair!  Character education is required curriculum in California and different organizations offer different materials for it, the Seven Traits of Character being one of them. With all the weight put on kids, teachers, schools and districts to get those test scores up and meet NCLB, character education often gets left in the dust. Just ask Bernie Madoff's teacher. I was especially impressed with Principal Adriana Chavarin's presence and clear enjoyment of getting to reward PEC kids for their effort. To close the assembly, teachers joined in with students to do the character counts song. PEC then made the local news later in the day when students visited a tree sitter protecting a Tipu tree set for removal in Orpheus Park, a park much of the school community walks through and that classes visit regularly. The comments from the article in the UT are pretty funny. I was stoked my oldest son came home and said they got to sing some Dylan songs with Jru today. Time to bust out Dr. Seuss' Lorax for a reread.

Digital Natives pt. 19

Great article in the New York Times on how kids use YouTube and whether or not it is the next Google. Though I don't let my kids use it unsupervised, we also use YouTube for a million and one things now, and not just watching what you can do with Mentos and Coca-Cola. Current events, how-to's and definitely, as the article demonstrates, how to use YouTube to research getting past the next level of Super Mario Galaxy on your Wii!

PEC garden: Take two

From PEC garden take 2

From PEC garden take 2

From PEC garden take 2

Back in early October I posted about the garden on the entry into PEC. I thought the plant selection was not thought out and anticipated it wouldn't last. I was right and thought it didn't seem possible at the time, the new choice is even worse. It looks like the new garden will be juniper and that succulent/weed that fills medians in every punchout development in southern California. Doesn't a school as unique (oldest, only school that can smell seawater, stones throw from the old train depot aka Panikkin) deserve something a little more, well, Leucadia? Maybe the third attempt will be all varieties of poinsettia, furnished by the Ecke estate! 

January 13 Board Meeting Agenda/December Meeting Minutes

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Despite my optimism for regime change in the new year, Governor Schwarzenegger's budget plan released last night called for $5 billion (that's the illion with a B) in cuts for public education, including cutting the school year by 5 days. At the last Board meeting, the news from Abby Saadat, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, was that the worst is yet to come. Well, here it comes. Stay tuned and make sure your voice is heard.